Mouthpiece for wood wind instruments



April 28, 1931. I F. MEYER'ET AL v 1,803,268

MOUTHPIECB FOR WOOD WIND INSTRUMENT Filed March 13, 1930 A? Orra.L/A'J'f Fqmsaq Mar e INVENTOR$ Patented Apr. 28, 1931 PATENT OFFICEFRANK MEYER AND OTTO LINK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MOUTHPIECE FOR WOOD WIND INSTRUMENTS Application. filed March 13, 1930.Serial N0. 435,590.

This invention relates to mouth pieces for wind instruments such assaxophones, clarinets and the like.

Mouth pieces for instruments of the above {H type are commonlyconstructed of metal, in which, it has been recognized by practicallyall musicians, particularly those who have been engaged in playing suchinstruments for many years, that the metal of the mouth 10. piece has adeleterious effect upon the teeth of the user, causing the teeth to beworn away along broken and irregular lines, due to the constantengagement of the teeth with the metal surface of the mouth piece. Inthe Hi endeavor to obviate this disadvantage, at-

tempts have been made to construct mouth pieces for such instruments sothat the same would not result in wear upon the teeth. Such attempts incertain instances have been all along the lines of providing acushioning means between the mouth piece and the teeth of the user, onthe erroneous assumption that the vibration of the reed has beenresponsible for the aforesaid deleterious effect of the mouth piece.upon the users teeth. As a matter of fact, it is known by skilledmusicians of long experience that the vibration of the reed does notcause the mouth piece to vibrate but that the harmful effects resultsolel'I-ly from the rubbing contact between the teeth of the user andthe metal of the mouth piece. Where cushioning means have been employed,under the erroneous assumption just stated, the same have been found tobe extremely unsatisfactory for several reasons, among which is the factthat in the first place a soft rubber cushion or insert is decidedlyunsanitary. In the second place the constant moist condition of themouth piece tends to cause i the soft rubber to deteriorate, whereuponthe mouth piece cushion becomes ragged, tending to further irritate theuser. In the third place the soft rubber cushion will in time wear outcompletely. Rubber patches that may be glued on are merely makeshiftexpedients resorted to for temporary use, and being inconvenient andirritating to the user in themselves necessitate the early replacementof the entire month piece.

' Ive have discovered: first, that it is not vibration of the mouthpiece that causes wear of the teeth, but rather the rubbing contact ofthe teeth upon the mouth piece; second, that a mouth piece with a softrubber insertis not necessary for cushioning purposes, but, rather, hasmany distinct disadvantages, among which are those already mentioned;and third, that the defects and disadvantages of hard metal and softrubber mouth pieces, as stated hereinabove, are obviated by constructingthe mouth piece with a permanent inlay of hard vulcanized rubber.

The primary object of our invention, therefore, is to provide asanitary, convenient and non-irritating mouth piece with a toothengaging inlay, hard in itself, but of less hardness and differenttexture than the metal of the mouth piece body whereby the wearingeffect upon the teeth is eliminated, the tooth engaging. inlay beingpractically non-wearing, sothat the smooth outline of the mouth piecebody can be maintained practically throughout the life of the mouthpiece, thereby promoting uniformity in the relation between the mouthpiece of the instrument and the teeth and lips of the player, as well asobviating the disadvantages of rapid-wearing germ-carrying soft rubberinlays.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafterspecifically pointed out, or will become apparent, as the specificationproceeds.

With the above indicated objects in view, the invention resides incertain novel constructions and combinations and arrangement of parts,clearly described in the following specification and fully illustratedin the accompanying drawings, which latter show embodiments of theinvention as at present preferred.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal top plan view of a mouth piece constructedaccording to myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same.

Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a partial perspective View showing the end of the mouth piecebefore vulcanization of the hard rubber inlay therein.

The mouth piece may be of practically any conventional form, including atubular body 10 with a neck portion 11 for connection with theinstrument and a tip 12 to be received by the mouth of the player. Thelay surface 13 of the tubular body 10 is provided with the usualvibrating reed 14, the butt end 15 of which may be secured in place bymeans of a ligature 16.

The upper surface of the mouth piece tip 12 is formed with atransversely extending recess 17 in that portion of the tip which isusually disposed in alignment with the teeth of the user. The recess 17may be of any desired depth and in this instance has sub stantiallyvertical forward and rearward walls 18 and 19 respectively, these wallsex- .tending to the upper surface of the mouth piece tip 12 which isslightly convex in contour. This recess 17 is adapted to receive aninlay of rubber and to secure the same permanently therein during theprocess of vulcanization. To finally hold the hard rubber inlay 20 inplace within the recess 17, we find it advantageous to form a pluralityof horizontal bores 21 and 22 extending from the recess 17 into thewalls 18 and 19 respectively.

In producing the hard rubber inlay, a mass of soft rubber is placed inthe recess 17 and subjected to pressure during the vulcanizationoperation. This causes the rubber to enter the bores 21 and 22 so thatthe inlay 20 includes a plurality of hard. integral projections 23 and24 which extend into the bores 21 and 22, the construction andarrangement of these projections 23 and 24 enabling the inlay to bepermanently secured within the recess 17. After vulcanization, the inlayis finished off to conform to the desired outline of the finished mouthpiece and after the inlay has been polished, the entire mouth piece maybe plated with gold or other metal as may be desired.

The hereinabove described construction admits of considerablemodification without departing from the invention; therefore, it is thewish not to be limited to the precise arrangements shown and described,which are as aforesaid, by Way of illustration merely. In other words,the scope or" protection contemplated is to be taken solely from theappended claims, interpreted as broadly as is consistent with the priorart.

WVJgat is claimed is:

1. A mouthpiece for Wind instruments including a tubular metallic bodyhaving a tip adapted to be received by the lips of the user, said tiphaving a transversely extend lng recess, said recess havingsubstantially vertical forward and rearward walls, said walls includinga plurality of substantially horizontal bores, and a hard rubber inlaysecured in said transverse recess, said inlay having a plurality ofintegral projections extending into said bores whereby to permanentlysecure said inlay in place upon said tip.

2. A mouthpiece for wind instruments including a metallic body portionhaving a tip adapted to be received by the lips of the user, said tiphaving a recess extending across its upper part, said recess havingforward and rearward Walls, each of said walls having a plurality ofseparated substantially horizontally extending bores, and a vulcanizedhard rubber inlay secured in said transverse recess, said inlayincluding a plurality of hard integral projections extending into saidbores whereby to permanently secure said inlay in place upon said tip,the sides of said inlay extending downwardly belowthe upper surface ofsaid tip.

In testimony whereof we hereby affix our signatures.

OTTO LINK. FRANK ME YER.

